30 Day OTP Challenge
by whydontyouallf-fadeaway
Summary: Doing a 30 Day OTP Challenge that I found on Tumblr with Marcella Backland and Tim Williamson from ITV's Marcella.
1. Introduction

_*NOTE: Obviously because this show is the way it is (only 8 episodes every couple of years), 99% of these have never happened or talked about. But I guess the point is that you make it all up though, right? :)_

* * *

 **Day One, Meeting:** The first time your OTP met. Introduced through a mutual friend? An accident?

 **Day Two, Realization:** The first time a member of your OTP (or both members!) realized they had feelings for the other.

 **Day Three, The Reveal:** When your OTP confessed their feelings. Or were their feelings originally a secret until someone else intervened?

 **Day Four, First Date:** Your OTP's first date. Where'd they go? Did the date go well or go horribly?

 **Day Five, Reminder:** What trinkets or items does each member of your OTP keep with them to remind them of their significant other? A gift? A photograph? Something else?

 **Day Six, New to the Family:** Each member of your OTP meeting the other's family for the first time. Does each family approve of the one dating the other? What sorts of shenanigans do they get into?

 **Day Seven, Laughter:** Your OTP making each other laugh. Jokes? Stories? Tickle fights?

 **Day Eight, First Kiss:** Exactly what it sounds like— make a piece inspired by/about your OTP's first kiss.

 **Day Nine, Third-wheeling:** Your OTP plus a third wheel. Is it awkwardly quiet, or chaotically crazy?

 **Day Ten, Flustered:** Your OTP being flustered. It could be one member, it could be both.

 **Day Eleven, Rest:** Your OTP resting and/or sleeping together. They could be sleeping anywhere from at home in bed to out on a park bench.

 **Day Twelve, Shopping:** Your OTP shopping together. What are they shopping for? Are they just running errands, or are they buying gifts for each other?

 **Day Thirteen, Our Song:** Your OTP and music. Do they have a song? Do they sing? Do they dance?

 **Day Fourteen, Stargazing:** Your OTP stargazing. Where are they doing this? Are they out camping? Are they sitting on a rooftop? What constellations are they looking at?

 **Day Fifteen, Rainy Day:** Your OTP on a rainy day. How do they spend the time? Cuddling up with a movie? Playing video games? Watching the rain?

 **Day Sixteen, Super Powers:** An AU in which your OTP has super powers. Are they a hero/sidekick duo? Are they archenemies? Are they both villains?

 **Day Seventeen, Double Date:** Your OTP going on a double date with two of their friends. Are they out to dinner? A movie? What's the other couple like? Do they get along well with your OTP?

 **Day Eighteen, Holding Hands:** Your OTP holding hands. Why are they holding hands? Is it just because, or is one of them in danger somehow?

 **Day Nineteen,** **Spellbound:** An AU in which your OTP has magical abilities. Are they witches/wizards? How do they use their powers? **_**I didn't do Magical Powers (because I know nothing about Magic), this is instead another Super Power AU (using the same powers from day 16)._**

 **Day Twenty, Surprise Gift:** One member of your OTP preparing a surprise gift for the other. How do they react? Do they almost find out about the surprise too early?

 **Day Twenty-One, Dispute:** Even people who love each other sometimes don't see eye-to-eye. Your OTP having an argument. How did it start? How does it get resolved?

 **Day Twenty-Two, Angst:** Your OTP in an angsty situation. Does someone get hurt? Is it bad?

 **Day Twenty-Three, Rescue:** One member of your OTP gets into trouble and the other rescues them! Could be from anything as small as a spider in the bathtub to as big as a kidnapper holding them for ransom!

 **Day Twenty-Four, Tragedy:** Your OTP handling a tragedy. Did they lose a loved one? Was something stolen? How do they handle this? How do they help the other stay strong?

 **Day Twenty-Five, Support:** Your OTP supporting each other through tough times. What are these tough times? How do they comfort each other? Is one more prone to being upset than the other?

 **Day Twenty-Six, Finishing Each Other's Sentences:** Exactly what it sounds like. This could include your OTP doing other couple clichés, too. Bonus if they're unaware of how cliché they're being.

 **Day Twenty-Seven, Memories:** Your OTP reminiscing about how far they've come. They could be looking through photo albums or just cuddling and talking.

 **Day Twenty-Eight, The Power of Two:** Your OTP accomplishing a goal that neither of them would've been capable of doing alone. The name of this prompt can be change if you're using an OT3 or more for this challenge.

 **Day Twenty-Nine, "I love you"s:** Your OTP saying they love each other for the first time. When was this? What context was it in? What did it feel like for them?

 **Day Thirty, Different Ways of Saying "I love you":** What sorts of things does your OTP say and do for each other to show that they love each other? How do they indirectly show their love?


	2. Day One - Meeting

_A/N: Okay, I know it's not great, but hey, it's my first time trying. :)_

This was the first time Marcella has stepped foot in this police station, a small local station near her flat in London, it wasn't much but it was the first step in getting where she wanted to be; she wanted to reach the top of the career ladder. She stood in the locker room, staring into the small mirror on the inside door of her own personal locker; she had no idea what to expect, despite her training.

Marcella adjusted the collar on her plain white shirt; the norm for all police constables, and stared a while longer. Looking at her watch, her eyes widened at the time, "Oh, shit." she exclaimed before slamming the door and rushing out of the room. She didn't know where she was going and elected to follow the rest of the officers who were making their way to a small briefing room. Marcella rushed down the corridor, and she was stopped in her tracks by the force of a body that she accidentally ran into.

"Careful." Tim chuckled, lightly grabbing her upper arms making sure she stays on her feet.

"Sorry." Marcella replied as she lifted her head up towards him and saw him stood dressed in a similar way to her; a plain white shirt, a plain black tie with a blue jumper complete with his epaulettes that displayed his identification number attached to his shoulder. Tim's cheeks flushed a warm sensation as soon as he saw Marcella. Tim never believed in love at first sight, but he may have to rethink that thought because there was something about the new constable in front of him that made him immediately feel like he did when he first fell in love as a kid. He began to feel worried that he had turned bright red when she looked at him, so he lowered his face towards the ground shyly, smiling softly as he did so.

"I've not seen you around here before. You must be new?" he commented trying to equally place his darting eyes around her; trying not to scare her off as that was the last thing he wanted. Marcella nodded at his question and looked around at her surroundings, taking them all in, "I'm Tim, by the way."

"Marcella." she told him. The corners of Tim's mouth continued to point towards his ears in a gentle smile. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm gonna be late. Not good first impressions, is it?"

"Well, luckily for you, I'm going the same way. It's just around the corner here." Tim replied. They begin walking the short distance to the room filled with other uniformed officers waiting for their morning meeting. Tim opened the door and held it open for the new recruit, allowing her to walk in first. She turned back and gave a nod and a smile her fellow constable.


	3. Day Two - Realization

p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"emA/N: Okay, I'm not at all happy about this one. They'll get better ... I hope./em/p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"Ever since he met her, Marcella intrigued Tim. The way she worked, the way her brain worked and the way she thought like nobody he'd ever met. It was important for Police Constables to be involved in some big cases, and letting Marcella become a part of one could go either way./p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"Marcella was impulsive and she was the type of police officer that wanted to see justice done to the right person, but she had already found herself in trouble for her obsessive tendencies on one suspect./p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"A set of police constables had assisted with the case; a case appeared to be a simple case of suicide and it already had been ruled out as such, but Marcella had already decided it didn't seem so. She sits in the break room on her own, looking over the case file. Tim walks past the room and stops in his tracks, backtracking towards the doorway, "I thought that had been ruled as a suicide." he said as he leaned on the door frame./p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"Marcella's eyes lifted from the page and set her eyes firmly on Tim who smiles softly. "It doesn't feel like a suicide. Take a look at this." Marcella takes some of the photos from the file and lays them on the table and Tim walks into the room, "Skin and traces of blood was found underneath the victim's fingernails which suggests she might've fought back." Tim sighs at her and she knows she's getting ahead of herself but she can't help it. It's what she's always done; it's all she's wanted to do. Tim can't help but just look at her and imagine her head being transparent, just so he can see those cogs working furiously within her brain./p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;""It's a suicide, Marcella. The case is closed."/p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;""Well, I don't believe that. I want to work on it, in my own time." Marcella tells him. They were only both Police Constables, it wasn't something that she could just do on her own, but that doesn't mean he didn't believe her. She was good; she was right, there was skin and blood under the victim's fingernails but nothing came of it and Tim knew it was because they didn't try hard enough./p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"Tim piled up the photos and placed them back in the file, "Case closed, Marcella." he replied, closing the file. Marcella took it and left the room. When she left, something hit Tim like a ton of bricks in his mind; she was good, she was bright, she was self motivated and there was something about her, something that Tim loved./p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;" /p  
p style="margin-top: 0.07cm; margin-bottom: 0.11cm;"And it was clear to him that from the first moment he saw her, he fell in love and whenever he saw her, he fell in love all over again./p 


	4. Day Three - The Reveal

_NOTE: Set during scene in S1E4 when Tim's at her house, just after he tells her he still cares about her/just before he's then seen leaving._

"Still care?" Marcella asks. A smile appeared on her lips and she turns her head away.

"I've always cared about you, you know that." Tim confesses. He moves his hand back towards her knee and lovingly places his palm down on it. His forefinger begins slowly caressing the fabric of her trousers and the tips of the other fingers slowly moves across her thigh.

"I know." she mumbled. Her head lifts back up and turns to Tim who smiles softly, "But like I said, I wasn't in a very good place." Tim's face turns to a look of loving concern, he didn't know the full story of her past, but he always knew that it wasn't what she was ready for.

"And what about now?"

Marcella wasn't even sure herself if she was any better than before. Considering Jason had just left her after a three year affair and not to mention her blackouts that she can never remember; she probably was in a worse state of mind. "I don't know. It's hard to say. Some days are good, others are more shittier than the last bad days."

Tim lowers his eyes to his lap. It wasn't a look of sadness, it was more a look of disappointment, disappointment that she wasn't exactly happy, and disappointment that not even Jason could be bothered to stick around knowing he would've. He could see that everything that was going on was something neither of them can control. He wouldn't want to control her feelings about anything, but he couldn't control his towards her, "I know, and that's why I'll wait."

"Why wait?" Marcella replies with a smirk. Tim looks back and the frown lines appear between is eyebrows just about the bridge of his nose, and he too begins to smile.

Tim looks at her and plans his next words carefully. If he could, he'd spill it all, and just take the plunge, asking her out, but he didn't. "Another time. But I'll always be waiting." he says. They share a brief moment of just looking into each others eyes that twinkle in the dim light of Marcella's living room. "I better go before I want to stay."

Tim gets up off the sofa and grabs his jacket from the back of the armchair. "I want you to stay." Marcella's words almost made him put his jacket back down, but he didn't. He knew he had to leave, staying any long would just fan the fire in his heart and it was best to wait for the right time and he knew deep down that wasn't it.

"I'll see you tomorrow." he replies. As he walked past Marcella, he leaned down and planted a kiss on top of her head and leaves without saying another word. When the door closed, Marcella took another sip of her beer and looked at the one Tim had left unfinished.


	5. Day Four - First Date

Marcella wasn't much of a restaurant person, and the last time she went to one, her marriage was over. But this time could be the start of something new. She didn't know what she wanted, did she want anything further with Tim? Or was she just glad of some attention and someone showing what Jason once did?

When she arrived, Tim had been waiting. His face lit up when she entered the restaurant and slowly ran his eyes over her; her black dress didn't sit much lower than half way down her thigh, her legs shined in the light of the restaurant, her hair tied back in a carefully created bun and her jacket flows down lower than her dress did.

Tim walked over to her, and planted a kiss to her cheek. He takes her jacket and drapes it over the back of the chair he pulls out for her to sit on. Marcella sits down and shuffles her chair closer to the table as Tim walks round to his own chair. Not only was this the first time since Jason left her at a restaurant when he broke up with her, it was the same restaurant. She looked over to the table where it happened and it was suddenly like it was happening in front of her all over again.

She felt like she was staring into a dark pit of nothingness when she was alerted by Tim's hand lightly touching hers from across the table. He could see she was in distress, her eyes were still closed and she was worried that if she opened them, he'd be injured because of her. Jason leaving her at the restaurant played like a movie in her head and she had no idea if she had blacked out and turned violent in that moment or she just sat there doing nothing.

"Marcella?" his soft voice filtered through her muddled state and her eyes opened. Her eyes shined brighter than the did before as the tears pooled in her eyes, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um, it's just this is where Jason left me." her voice cracked in the sadness. Tim lowered his head, annoyed at himself that he had to choose this restaurant.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." he said quietly as his thumb lightly moved back and forth over her hand. "Trust me to pick _this_ restaurant." he laughed followed by a smile returning to her face, which made Tim smile even longer. Marcella wasn't sure if she even wanted to stay but at least the person sat opposite her wasn't just to about to deliver bad news; at least she hoped not. "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Marcella shook her head and wiped the tear that had made it's way down her cheek, "Not unless you're planning to break up with me too." she joked with a little chuckle.

"I wouldn't dream of it." he replied. "Wouldn't want that expensive wine all over my head would I? And plus, I actually _want_ to be here."

"More than can be said for Jason."

"I'm not Jason." There was such care in his voice, something she's not heard in a long time. She picked up the menu and scanned over the words on the sheet not really taking any of it in on first glance. She quickly raised only her eyes from the menu and looks over at Tim who has his own mind concentrated on his. The corners of her mouth turned upwards and slowly moved up with her cheekbones as she smiled to herself. Despite all the shit in the last few months, she couldn't help but feel happier than she had for a while; she didn't know what made her feel this way now. Maybe it was spending time with Tim or maybe it was just being able to forget everything for a while.


	6. Day Five - Reminder

_A/N: This plays on a theory that a friend and I have about Tim's involvement with The Whitmans in Series 2. Not spoilers because unsure at the moment if it's true._

This wasn't how he wanted Marcella to find out about Maya Whitman. But this isn't what she thought and she hadn't given him time to explain.

He furiously paced around his office, wondering what he was going to do, he couldn't lose her. He never cheated on her, he wouldn't but despite how many times he told Marcella, she wouldn't listen. He saw her march past his office and he quickly rushed to the door, "Marcella." he calls but she doesn't stop walking. "Marcella, wait.

She stops and spins on her heel angrily. "Did you sleep with her?"

"No." he replies, almost too quickly. "Vince Whitman got the wrong end of the stick, alright? I can prove it. Please?" Tim tilted his head slightly to the side, and smiled softly, hoping it'll get Marcella back into his good books but she didn't smile back. She was pretty damn annoyed at him.

Tim takes her back to his office and he sets out on proving that he wasn't sleeping with Maya, "You have five minutes." she informed him. "Five minutes to convince me or that's it."

A folder is slammed on the desk by Tim, and Marcella flicks through it. "I'm investigating them." he confesses, his hands making their way into his trouser pocket. "It's a long story. But I _had_ to get close to her just so she'd open up to me, and maybe, if I was lucky, get some information out of her."

"Marcella places the folder back on the desk surface and her expression immediately changes from anger and sadness to guilt. "So you didn't sleep with her?" she asks sadly. Tim makes he way forward to her and begins to fiddle with strands of her hair that had come out of her pony tail.

"No. I didn't sleep with her. I flirted, because I had to." Marcella lifts her arms and places them around the back of Tim's neck, hooking her hands at the end and his hands move to the small of her back. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But you know I care about you, I wouldn't – I couldn't do that. To anyone, let alone you. Here..." Tim takes his hands away and grabs his jacket from the back of his chair, taking out his wallet and showing Marcella a photograph he's kept in there.

"You have a photo of us in your wallet?"

"Yep, I've kept it in there since that day 15 years ago. It helped me keep believing that I'd see you again. And I keep it in there still to remind myself what I don't want to lose." Marcella looks at him and smiles to herself. Her hands hadn't moved from the position around his neck, she felt a little annoyed at herself that she didn't allow him to explain straight away, but then again, he should've felt he could tell her. "I'm sorry." he apologises, before pressing his lips to hers and kisses her.

Tim knew he should've told her, he wished he had, but he hoped that now she knew, he could stay on his own investigation without his being compromised.


	7. Day Six - New To The Family

_A/N: I didn't do both meeting each other's family because I didn't want to spend loads of time making up family members for Tim and more for Marcella so I just did it this way instead._

"But we know who Tim is. Why do we have to meet him?" Emma said with a groan. Edward sat on the sofa furiously tapping away on his phone.

"Edward, can you put that down please and come in here and set the table." Marcella ordered her son. Edward huffed and finished what he was doing and put the phone in his pocket as he stood up from the sofa.

Edward stomped through, "I don't even know why we have to do this." he complained. Marcella turned away from the food she was making, noticing Edward's face which didn't look too happy. Marcella doesn't even have to ask a question before Edward continues, "I don't even want to meet him."

"Well, you had no problems with meeting Becky, did you?" she said with her voice slightly raised.

Emma lowers her head, she didn't want a slanging match but she knew where this was heading. "But Becky doesn't want to try and send dad to prison." Emma said. Marcella rolled her eyes, it didn't surprise her that Jason was still finding ways to try and make her own children hate her more than she was sure they already did.

"Tim doesn't want to put your father in prison. Who told you that?" she asked, turning back to stir the pot.

"Dad." Edward replied. "He said that someone was killed and that Tim is blaming him." Marcella just wanted to tell them everything, everything about Jason's affair, Grace Gibson, DTG, Andrew Barnes, just everything. But she knew it would just make things worse. She expected some kind of tension, there always was lately.

Marcella slammed the wooden spoon onto the rim of the pot and turned angrily, "Right, okay, do you want to know the truth? Do you?" Her voice was angry and loud and it made Emma jump from the suddenness of her anger. "Your father –" Her sentence was interrupted by the knock on the door. As she left the room, she got closer to Emma and Edward, "Be nice." she instructed, pointing at them both.

"Why?" Edward huffed.

"Because if you can think the sun shines out of Becky's arse, you can be civil to Tim for a few hours." she replied before going to the door and opening it.

"Not late, am I?" Tim smiles as he stands on the doorstep. Marcella shakes her head and opens the door wider so he can walk through. Tim kisses Marcella as he passes her, "You alright?" he asked. He could tell that something hadn't long happened but she just nodded in response.

She shut the door behind him as he walked into the living room and began removing his coat, "Emma! Edward!" she called and they both appeared from the kitchen. "So, um, Tim, this is Emma and Edward. Emma, Edward, this is Tim."

"Hi." Emma said. Edward didn't say a word, Tim didn't expect them to warm to him straight away, he wouldn't if he were in their shoes so he wasn't overly disappointed at Edward's behaviour. Emma sniffed the air, "Mum, what's that smell?" she asked.

Marcella looked over to the kitchen, "Oh, shit. The meat." she hurried back to the kitchen and Emma sniggered. Tim looked over to the kitchen doorway and saw Marcella rush around like a headless chicken, trying to salvage what she could of her now burnt meat, it made him smile and he too couldn't help but laugh.

"We could just get a takeaway." Tim suggested.

The kids had been there a few hours with Tim and Marcella and it wasn't going quite as badly as she assumed it would. Emma managed to actually talk but Edward was still quiet and the food had long since been eaten. Tim looked at Edward who had barely uttered a word since he arrived, " Come on, Edward. I'm not _that_ bad, am I?" he asked, trying to find a way to get him to at least speak to him. After another long pause, Tim spoke again, "Your mum said you like video games. I used to play when I was younger, though they're not like they are now."

There was another long silence, and Tim looked at Marcella who mouthed an apology to him. He placed his hand on hers gently in response, so she knew it was okay. "Probably means I could beat you now then?" Edward finally spoke.

"Yeah, you probably could." he chucked. "Got a console with you here?" Edward nodded and looked at his mum, and she jerked her head towards the stairs so he knew he was able to go and get it.

Emma stood in the kitchen with her mum, "Are you happy, mum? I mean, with Tim." she asked. Marcella stood in the doorway, watching Edward and Tim play a video game as they laughed and joked, trying to distract each other from winning the game. It was the first time in a while that Edward actually seemed to smile, and it was nice for her to see her happy, smiling boy back; even if it was just for a few minutes. She was just about to answer he daughter's question when the door knocked. "That'll be dad." Emma said as she moved towards the door.


	8. Day Seven - Laughter

"The keys rattled in the door as Marcella sat on the floor of her living room. She looked up from the children's drawings and old memories scattered across the carpet. "Hey." she said with a small smile slowly spreading across her lips as Tim walked into the living room. "What are you doing here?"

"Just wanted to check you were okay. Rav said you left in a hurry earlier." Tim replied as he moved and sat on the sofa, climbing over the piles of paper on the floor. He tilts his head to the side and gives Marcella a smile before looking down at the floor, "What is all this anyway?" he asks picking up a piece of paper with a child's stick drawing scribbled on some coloured paper. He looked at the name written in pencil at the bottom of the page, _'Emma, aged 2'_

"Just some of the kids' old stuff from when they were little." she replied. She takes the piece of paper off Tim and places it back on the ground.

"Tim furrows his eyebrows together in confusion when he looked back down at the small piles on things, and noticed a piece of soft fabric poking out from under the paper. He picks up a old sock that has been modified into a puppet, "Marcella, what is this?" he asked holding it up by a corner.

Marcella laughs, "Oh, it's a home made sock puppet. Emma made it." she informs him.

Tim grimaces and moves the sock to his nose and sniffs it, before quickly moving his head away. "Oh my, Go- Marcella this thing stinks." he tells her. He holds it out and she moves her head forward. She doesn't even have to move it very far when she finds out what he's talking about. Her head also moves back away quickly in disgust at the smell. He reaction makes Tim laugh, as he also knows the vile smell that comes from the sock.

"Wow, you're right." she says holding her nose. "I've never had the heart to throw or even wash it. Even after 12 years." Tim's eyes widen and he drops the sock back on the floor, twelve years without being washed.

"Marcella randomly started laughing again which made Tim smile. "What?" he asked.

"I think there's another one in the pile somewhere." she laughs as she searches through the papers. She eventually found the other sock that had been made into a puppet and sniffed it, it also had a bad smell coming from deep within the fabric but it filled the room. Her reaction to the smell made Tim snigger and Marcella threw both of the smelly sock puppets at him with a chuckle.


	9. Day Eight - First Kiss

Tim waits on the sofa as Marcella fetches the beer from the fridge. Once she's opened the bottles, she makes her way back to living room and hands Tim his beer before sitting on the sofa to join him. "I hear you caught Peter Cullen. Congratulations."

"Yeah, thanks." she replied flatly. She turned her head to Tim and she notices the frown on his face, "Well, we caught him but there's still a copycat killer out there." she says before shaking her head lightly and looking down at her bottle.

"Tim's eyes also look down, "But you're half way there, Marcella. And if you can catch Peter Cullen after 11 years, you can catch whoever's doing this." he encourages with a smile. Marcella knew the compliment that he was giving, and she'd be lying if she didn't appreciate it. Tim was worried things may end up being a bit awkward after he basically confessed his feelings for her, but luckily things seemed to be the same.

"What if I don't get them? What if this goes on for 11 years like Cullen's case did?" she wondered. Her self-doubt always got the better of her, but that's usually with her fugues; career wise, she was usually quite confident in what she was doing. But seeing as it _did_ take her eleven years to catch the Grove Park Murderer, she couldn't help but worry that history was now repeating himself.

Tim didn't have the answers, he wish he did. Nobody would know what to do in that situation, but he believed that Marcella would find the right person in the end. He took another sip of his beer and put it down on the table, "I better go." he says, standing up from hi seat.

"Please." Marcella says, lightly grabbing his wrist and also standing up, "Stay." Tim was conflicted, he didn't know whether to stay or not; though he did want to, he just didn't want to ruin anything. Marcella's waist moved closer towards his and her fingers hooked into his belt loops to pull him closer to her. "I want you to stay."

Tim couldn't resist her much longer, he'd been waiting for this moment a long time; the moment that he could finally kiss her. He wanted it to be the right moment, and though he still wasn't sure this was exactly it, he placed his hand lovingly on her cheek and slowly moved his face to press his lips to hers. Marcella immediately responded to the kiss, it was much more passionate than she expected her first kiss with Tim to be, but it's completely what she wanted and more. His hand moved from her cheek and his fingers tangled within her hair and her hands found themselves around his neck and hooking behind his head.

The kiss eventually broke off and Tim smiled at Marcella, "You never missed your moment, Tim. It was just waiting for the right time." Tim didn't respond with words, just another kiss.


	10. Day Nine - Third-wheeling

Rav didn't know why he agreed to come for a drink. Mark and LeAnn were busy and they didn't invite anyone else; so it was just him, Marcella and Tim. Going out with the big boss made him feel awkward, but he agreed because Marcella badgered him into it.

Rav needed to forget the day. The case had taken a huge toll on him and Marcella knew he needed to get some time away from the office. Tim wasn't quite as sure at Rav's presence at the pub, but he waited to get Marcella on her own before he mentioned it, "Are you sure this is a good idea? Inviting Rav." he says as he looks over to him standing at the bar. It was Rav's round and the pub was packed.

"It's just been a bad day for everyone. I invited him because I thought he could do with a drink." she replied, there was a hint of annoyance in her voice. Rav returned with the drinks and placed them on the table, he sat down and immediately downed almost half of his pint. She had never seen him drink quite like that before, and she knew how badly he had been affected by their current case but even this was different for Rav.

Tim and Marcella had drank more than they had thought and Rav stayed almost motionless in his chair. They began getting more touchy feely with each other and Rav didn't know what to do, it was slightly awkward for him being the only one there with them with no one else to talk to or simply drink with.

Tim mumbled sweet nothings to Marcella and she kissed him and Rav got up off his chair. "I better get going." he said as he took his jacket off the back of his chair.

"No, Rav, stay, I'll get you another drink." Marcella said. Her words slurring slightly. She removed Tim's arm from around her shoulder and stood up to join him. Rav didn't reply to her request to stay, he instead moved his head to her cheek and press his lips to it. "See you tomorrow."

Rav nodded and left. Marcella sighed; she couldn't help but worry about him, it was a part of Rav she hadn't really seen before, the vulnerability, the sadness. It's not the first time they've worked on a murder case, but it was kids, and that hit everyone hard. She returned to her seat and Tim put his arm back round her, "Is he gonna be alright?" he wondered and Marcella took a sip of her beer before she answered.


	11. Day Ten - Flustered

It was a boiling hot day and the air conditioning had broken in the police station. Tim sighed at the lack of working air conditioning as Marcella made her way to Tim's office. All of his windows were open and he even had a fan on full blast but that didn't seem to stop the sweat soaking through his shirt. His shirt felt sticky and it was covered in the moisture of his own sweat, he went over to a cupboard and took out a fresh shirt. As he began unbuttoning the one attached to him, the door knocked briefly and Marcella walked in.

"I'm guessing you have an update." he said as he the last of his buttons were undone. He took off the shirt and turned to face Marcella, who immediately finds herself speechless at the sight in front of her; a slightly sweaty and shirtless Tim. He began putting on his other shirt and she was sure he was doing it as slow as possible on purpose.

She smiles before trying to form a coherent sentence, "We've - er - tracked down - the – erm..." Marcella struggled to even pay attention to anything she was saying. Tim, who was sat on the edge of his desk, looked her her, eyebrows raised knowing exactly why she was unable to even speak. She giggled and lowered her head shyly.

"What did you track down?" he asked, trying to get Marcella to return to her professional way of working. Tim made his way back to his own chair, sat down and picked up the tie he left on his desk.

As he started to re-tie it, Marcella felt able to give Tim a proper update on the case, "We've managed to track down the owner of the stolen vehicle that was seen around the time of the second murder. I'm going to go and check it out with LeAnn now." she informed him a lot more clearly. Marcella got up off her seat and made her way to leave the room, "See you later." she says with a smirk as she opened the door and left to speak with the potential witness.


	12. Day Eleven - Rest

_A/N: There's a lot of jumps here but I was hardly going to pick a film and explain it all, so this will have to do. :)_

Marcella sits on the sofa and turns on the TV. One of her favourite films was due to be on and Tim had come prepared with beer and popcorn as well as planning to order a takeaway a little later. He handed her an open beer and they both took a large sip, almost in sync with each other.

The film started and Tim's arm immediately found it's way around Marcella and she snuggled into him. Her arm wrapped around his waist and his was around the back of her body and his hand hooked around her upper arm.

The bowl of popcorn sat on Tim's lap and Marcella's hand slowly kept dipping into the bowl and she grabbed a small handful as the film went on. She looked up to Tim and giggled lightly and he lowered his head and pressed his lips briefly to the bridge of her nose and she laughed lightly again.

As the film continued and reached the half way point, Tim ordered a takeaway and they ate it together. Marcella's eyes were glued to the screen and he couldn't help but watch as she was just deeply absorbed by the movie, one she had said she had seen more than she can count and never got bored.

They soon returned to their position on the sofa and the credits of the film rolled. Tim was just about to speak when he leaned his head slightly forward an noticed Marcella had fallen asleep. Her arm still wrapped loosely around his waist and her head propped up by his chest. The peaceful sleeping face of hers made him smile to himself; he knew how much she struggled to get a decent sleep so having her sleep on him made it much more worthwhile.


	13. Day Twelve - Shopping

One of Marcella's least favourite chores outside of work was shopping, which is why she'd usually do it online but as yet, the case has been far too hectic for her to have been able to. Tim offered to take her to the supermarket and they soon arrived.

"I could still just do this online, you know?" she moaned as she took off her seatbelt.

"Stop complaining, we're here now." he looked at her and smiled and her fake grimace at the mere thought of stepping foot in a supermarket, something she has rarely done since Emma and Edward were younger. Once inside, Marcella was almost overwhelmed, she had no idea where to even begin. "Right, what do we need?" he asked and he turned to her.

"She looked around, hoping something would catch her eye and it would be a good starting point for her, but it didn't. "Erm, everything. This and that."

"Very helpful, Marcella. You got a list?"

"No, I usually do it online and there you don't really need a list." she replied. Tim's rolled his eyes and laughed again, "It's not funny." she said with a smile, trying not to find his reaction amusing.

"Tim was amused by Marcella's complete lack practice for shopping that wasn't done online, "Come on, it's a supermarket, not Mars. You can resume your unsocial shopping skills next time." he joked. Tim grabbed a trolley and wheeled it in and began pushing it as Marcella walked around, placing items in as they passed them. She wasn't exactly happy with having to actually do her big food shop in the actual supermarket, but at least it was getting done.

It took Marcella much longer than she would've liked to do this and they finally finished and payed for their shopping. Tim packed the bags into the car and took the trolley back, "Now, that wasn't quite so bad, was it?"

"Remind me to never allow myself to have to do that again." she requested as she got into the car. Tim laughed and too got in to drive them back home./p


	14. Day Thirteen - Our Song

Marcella had no idea why she even agreed to go to Jason's wedding, let alone actually turn up. Maybe she did it for the kids, or maybe she did because she hoped she'd get drunk enough to make a scene in front of him.

As Jason and Becky take to the floor for their first dance, Marcella looks over at Emma and Edward who look at the bride and groom with huge grins on their faces. Her face isn't quite as happy as her children's and just the thought of the the song starting and Jason and Becky beginning their life as a married couple. Something she had when she married him.

Tim stood next to her, and watched as the song began to play, _'It's late in the evening; she's wondering what clothes to wear. She puts on her make-up and brushes her long blonde hair.'_ the song lyrics filtered through Marcella's head and she barely took in her surroundings and her mind just focused on the music and her ex-husband dancing his wedding song with someone else. _'And then she asks me, Do I look all right? And I say, "Yes, you look wonderful tonight."'_

Marcella tried to look happy, but looking down at her, Tim knew she wasn't. He could see the sadness in her eyes, and he could see her eyes glisten over with tears. "Come on." he said as he grabbed her hand and made led her out of the room, stopping to grab a close by bottle of Champagne, two glasses and two bottles of beers as they left.

The sit in the grass outside of the venue, leaning up against the brick of the building. "I don't even know why I came. I thought the kids would want me here but they've barely spoken to me all evening. Too busy with perfect Jason and perfect new mum Becky." she mumbled before she took a large swig of her beer.

It didn't take her long and the beer was already finished and they turned their attention to the large bottle of Champagne that Tim stole from the table. Looking at him, she smiled. There was something about sitting in the darkness with Tim while her ex-husband danced with his new wife that made her chuckle. The irony of realising that all she wanted was right there, and how long she been upset with Jason at what he did, when everything that made her happy was Tim.

He poured some into both glasses and held his glass out towards hers, "To new beginnings." he toasted. Their glasses clinked as they toasted their future, a future Marcella was finally looking forward to. Taking out his phone, Tim played some music, _'You're a falling star, you're the get-away car. You're the line in the sand when I go too far.'_ Marcella got the idea there maybe was a reason he was playing the song but she didn't particularly mind, she enjoyed it.

The song continued to play as they sipped the champagne, and the reception carried on indoors, "Fuck Jason." she commented, met with a chuckle from Tim and he places his palm on her bare knee that her dress hadn't quite reached. That's all he wanted to hear, he always understood that Jason was a part of her life, but all he wanted was for her to see what she has now, not what there was before. He accepted that Jason would always be there, he's the father of her kids, though he just hoped that their future conversations wouldn't always go back to Jason.

 _"And in this crazy life, and through these crazy times."_ Tim sings along with the song. _"It's you, it's you, you make me sing."_ he looks at Marcella as he sings along to the chorus. She tried to not laugh but the alcohol was making that impossible and if he was trying to be serious about it, she felt a little bad for laughing. It was sweet to her though and she couldn't help but think that Tim meant every word he was singing, _"You're every line, you're every word, you're everything."_

The activity from inside almost annoyed Marcella, and she was considering just getting up and going home. But outside under the dark sky, sat on the dry grass was much more appealing than her own home. She wanted to enjoy the moment as much as she could so she shuffled even closer to him.

Marcella smiled at him and she tried to speak, but he just serenaded her with the lyrics. _"And I can't believe, uh, that I'm your man. And I get to kiss you, baby, just because I can. Whatever comes our way, ah, we'll see..."_ Tim's singing was silenced by her lips pressed passionately against his, something she's been waiting to do since he started singing to her. His hands ran along her body as he melted into the kiss and the song slowly came to end.


	15. Day Fourteen - Stargazing

The sky was clear, the air was cool and the stars twinkled in the dark sky. Marcella sits at the table, glass beer bottle in her hand and takes in the night sky. It never really caught her attention before but she couldn't help but be suddenly transfixed for a moment. The door to the garden opens and Tim steps out, causing a startled Marcella to be brought back to the real world. "What you doing out here on your own?" he asks her, placing down another beer for her and joining her at the table.

"Just felt like sitting out here." she replied. Tim knew she seemed more down then usual, she never sat out in the garden, he don't think he'd ever knew the door to have been unlocked let alone anyone step foot out there.

She turned to him, and he saw the redness in her eyes, and she immediately turned back and looked back up to the sky and stars. The skin at the bridge of his nose crinkled as he frowned, "You okay?" he wondered.

Her head was still looking up to the sky at the stars and she didn't look back at him. Tim looked up to the sky with her; he wasn't totally sure what she was looking at but he too noticed the clarity of the the dark sheet that hung over them. Tim kept looking back over at Marcella who rarely looked down, only doing so to grab the bottle that sat on the table. There was something about how sad she looked that was different than usual, somehow more so.

Marcella noticed the stars in the strange shapes that were in the sky, she had no idea the names of any of the constellations but she knew that's what they were. She considered making up names for them just to take her mind off all the shit that was swimming through it her thoughts.

She finished her down the last of her beer and got up off of her chair. She made her way back inside and Tim lightly grabbed her wrist as he walked past, "You alright?" he asked again as he gives her a soft smile.

Marcella leaned her head down and pressed her lips to his, it wasn't a very long kiss, but it was still a kiss Tim welcomed from her, knowing she wasn't herself tonight. "I'm fine." she mumbled. She tugged lightly and Tim let go of her and watched her as she went back inside.


	16. Day Fifteen - Rainy Day

Rain of any kind doesn't stop crime being tackled.

The rain hammered down and Tim stood at the window, watching it full rapidly as the noise pitter pattered on the glass. He watched the drips slide down the window, while he mentally thought of them being in a race like he used to as a child. It was quite calming for him to see the single droplets slide down the pane of glass and it was a brief escape from being stuck at the office.

A noise came from behind him and he turned briefly to see Marcella walk through the doorway, and he smiled before turning back. She placed a file on his desk and came up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and nuzzling her nose and face into his back, breathing in his general scent mixed with what was left of his aftershave. Marcella's fingers interlocked with each other at his front and Tim placed his hands on hers and she squished herself even tighter into his body.

Tim tried to remove her hands carefully off of him, "No." she mumbled with a whining tone, "Don't leave, this is too nice."

He smiled and a amused scoff lightly escaped from his mouth, "We're at work, Marcella." he replied as he Marcella slowly let her grip go, "And as much as I would love to stay like this here with you forever, we have work to be doing." he said as he returned to his seat and picked up the file she put on the desk.

She started watching the rain pour down outside her boss' window and suddenly it too was a calming activity for her just to watch it drip down the window. Tim handed her the file back, but she didn't take it, she was too busy watching the rain. The folder lightly whacked against her arm as Tim tried to get her attention and she soon took it off of him.

"Thanks." she told him quietly. Marcella made her way out of Tim's office, "You fancy a movie tonight? You can pick." he smiled.

"Yeah, okay." she agreed as she smiled back. Their eyes met for a brief moment before Marcella shyly looked away again and left the room to continue her work. Tim turned his attention back to the rain that had lightened a little from before. He still watched as the droplets made their way down the glass and the rain poured at hit all the surfaces he could see.


	17. Day Sixteen - Super Powers

There was a difference between having super powers and actually wanting them. Tim liked being able to Time Travel, though it had it's disadvantages. But he hoped today wouldn't be full of them. Marcella was the only person who knows about his power, and he is the only one who knows about hers.

Tim made his way into the kitchen and changed the time and date on his watch. That watch is what enables him to travel in time, and he had no idea who sent it to him or why, but since then, he can use it to travel wherever he wants in the past or future. He doesn't know the mechanics of the watch, how it sends him where he chooses to go, how he gets back or what happens when he moves between the times; and if he was being honest, the truth about how it all works would probably scare the hell out of him. So the secret was probably best left just as that – a secret.

The front door opened and Marcella immediately put her coat on the hook, "Tim?" she called as she walked around the living room. "Tim?" she calls again, there was no answer and she started to guess that he had gone off on one of his adventures. She hated him going on his own but he always found excuses not to take her with him. Marcella understood though, he was right, if she saw one thing that pissed her off, some instinct would kick in and she'd want to kill them. Which isn't good when time travelling.

Marcella had her own power to contend with, she was of the not actually wanting her power camp, but she was stuck with it. Being able to heal people of injuries and bringing them back from the brink of death is something she's been stuck with since Juliet died. She is certain it's some kind of punishment for her dying, that's how she's always seen it. Nobody except Tim knows. Not even her own kids, despite the amount of times since then they've hurt themselves and she's wanted to help, she just doesn't want anyone else to know. Marcella always found it quite ironic that since then, she's been able to heal other people when she was so broken and shattered inside, and she couldn't even fix herself, and yet, here she is able to fix other people.

She had no idea how long Tim had been gone for, or how long it will take for him to come back. Entering the kitchen, she took a beer out of her fridge and pulled the cord on Juliet's toy that hung on the wall. As the soothing tune played, a thud occurred behind her, and Tim groaned as he returned to the present day. Marcella turned and Tim stood there, hand covered in blood as it was placed over his abdomen on his blood covered shirt, "Oh my, God. What the fuck?" she panicked as Tim slumped to the floor.

"It's not as bad as it looks." he quipped knowing it was much worse.

Marcella crouched down to him and unbuttoned the buttons near the wound. A large gaping bullet hole ripped through the skin of his stomach, "What the hell were you playing at? Where did you go?" she asked.

"1809 or something like that. There was some war happening, I got caught in the crossfire." he replied wearily. She checked the wound, making sure it was safe for her to begin to apply the healing power to him.

Placing her hands on the wound, she closed her eyes. As soon as she did, it started to work. Marcella had no idea why or how it does, but it is what it is and she had to make the best of it. She could faintly feel the pain as the healing began, and the wound started to fade from his skin. Tim hated her using her power because he could see how much distress it caused her, and she's never used it for something quite so major before. She's always only used it when Tim cuts his finger or burns his hand on the oven, but a wound from a gun from 1809 was something different.

Marcella gasped as the last part of the process occurred and Tim was as good as new. As soon as it was over, she looked exhausted. She didn't know that the power would ever take it out of her quite like that did. "You didn't have to do that, you know?" Tim said, checking his skin where the wound was just minutes before.

"I wasn't going to let you die just because you've been a fucking idiot. Next time you send yourself into the middle of a war, I might not be so generous."


	18. Day Seventeen - Double Date

The taxi stopped outside of the restaurant and Marcella, Tim, Jason and Becky all stepped out and congregated in a small circle as Jason payed the driver. Marcella smiled at Becky, though she'd rather be anywhere then spending any of her evening with either of them.

Once inside, they sat at their table and it was awkward from the minute they stepped outside with each other but Becky tried to break the ice, "How are you?" she asked, directing her question to Marcella.

"I'm good." she replied with a fake smile plastered across her face. As soon as her drink arrived, she couldn't drink some of it fast enough, and swigged down a large portion of the drink. Marcella noticed Jason rolling his eyes across the table from her, and she felt fed up already, and though she told herself that she wouldn't cause a scene, she wanted to throttle him already.

Just looking at Jason's face made her want to smash a glass over his head just to cut the evening short. "How's the hypnosis going?" Becky wondered as the food come to the table. Marcella didn't answer and she hoped that someone would change the subject to something else.

"How's Emma and Edward?" Marcella asked Jason. It was almost like it was a hard job for Jason to answer the questions, he just sat and scowled at Marcella. "Is there a problem?"

Jason sighed, "Don't pretend like you care." he said. If anyone was going to cause the scene that Marcella was going to make, it didn't surprise her that it was going to be Jason. There was a long pause and it was obvious to Tim that his girlfriend was biting her tongue before she inevitably snapped at her ex, he knew it was coming, he just didn't know when. "You signed those papers yet? Pretty sure it's past the deadline I gave you." Jason's words were surely going to set her off, or worse, send her into a fugue, which is the last thing Tim wanted to watch her go through.

Marcella's breathing quickened and she was near close to exploding in a fit of rage at Jason, "I've already told you, I'm not signing those fucking papers. You're not taking my kids to Singapore." she fumed, and the whole restaurant turned and looked at their table.

"And I already told you; you don't sign them, I'll tell everyone about your blackouts."

"Hey!" Tim interjected, "You can't blackmail her like that." Tim knew that he had a little something to throw Jason's way if Jason took this any further; he wasn't going to watch Marcella as her kids were taken away from her. It always irritated Tim how Jason walked out on her, cheating for three years with Grace Gibson before having the balls to break it off. It annoyed him even more than now that Jason had the cheek to try and take Emma and Edward away from her.

"Why not?" Jason replied smugly.

Tim didn't want to have to unleash his weapon, but he somehow felt he didn't have much of a choice, "You try this, I'll talk the police about Andrew Barnes' death. And with Stuart Callaghan nowhere to be seen, I could easily pin all the evidence on you." Tim felt a little too good about bringing that back; he wasn't going to sit idly by and listen to Jason speak to Marcella like that and not do something.

Marcella and Becky had gone quiet before Becky had to ask the question, "Who's Andrew Barnes?"

"It's no one." he assured her, "Come on, we're leaving." Jason continued and he and Becky stood up and left without paying for at least half of the meal, so it was up to them to front the money. He didn't know whether to ask if she was okay, knowing just by looking at her face that she wasn't. Tim took Marcella's hand in his and gave it a light, comforting squeeze and she responded with a gentle smile back at him.


	19. Day Eighteen - Holding Hands

Marcella groans loudly in pain as the excruciating throbbing rips through her upper body. She didn't even realise what had happened until the blood began dripping down her arm and soaking through her white shirt. She had no choice to let the suspect get away.

As soon as the blood began dripping, Marcella felt the pain of the knife that was still embedded in her shoulder and she slumped against an exterior brick wall. She knew that the team knew where she was, and she hoped they weren't that far away.

She was prepared for the shit she was about to get in for going on her own, Rav first, before Tim later. The pain got worse several cars pulled up, Rav and Tim rushed out of one of them and Tim quickly rushed over. Rav ordered the police officers to check the premises, and he too rushed to Marcella. Tim grabbed her hand, "They went. I couldn't catch them. Sorry." she mumbled, as she sucked through her teeth to try and take her mind off the pain.

Rav couldn't help but stare at the knife that was still stuck in her and Marcella's hand moved up towards it and she threatened to pull the knife out. "No!" Tim abruptly said, "Don't." he tells her and she groaned in response, "We can't remove it Marcella. It has to be done properly." It was awful for him, seeing how much pain she was in, not just as his DS, nut as his girlfriend; and not to mention seeing the knife still in her flesh.

Marcella's hand squeezed Tim as the sharp burning sensation overtook her body, "Ambulance is on it's way." Rav informed his boss after he rushed back over. He crouched down next to her, just like Tim was, "How's she doing?" he asked.

"She should be fine. But we need to get her to hospital and she'll get the help she needs. Especially to get that knife out." he replied calmly, much more so than Rav looked and felt.

"Why can't we just pull it out?" Rav didn't know what to do, this was a new experience for him. He and Marcella hadn't always seen eye-to-eye but seeing her in such a state worried and scared him.

Tim gave Rav the benefit of the doubt about not knowing that, and blamed the panic that he knew had swallowed him whole, "Because we could risk further injury if we did."

Tim's hand never left Marcella's, and she didn't let it; it was the best bit of comfort and safety she felt considering she had been stabbed and it felt better to her knowing he was there. The ambulance arrived and he smiled at her as the paramedics rushed over. Letting go of her hand, Tim stood up and moved away, allowing the paramedics to do their jobs.


	20. Day Nineteen - Spellbound

_A/N: This was supposed to be Magic, which I know nothing about, and it was stressing me out trying to think of something. So I've done another Superpower AU instead._

Marcella always wondered whether her healing power would work on herself. She had never tried it, but she always assumed it wouldn't, and there was a part of her that would be too scared that it would. Holding her hands inches away from her face, she toyed with the idea of trying it, hoping it might at least elevate her fugues. Fugues that had gotten much worse over the last few months, and she had no idea why.

As she moves her hands towards her face, a whoosh and a thud came from the kitchen, and she knew that Tim had returned from wherever he went this time. She didn't mind him going off travelling through time, but she was never sure why he always used her kitchen as his departure and arrival gate. She rushed into the kitchen, fearing he'd found himself impaled on a spike, or a javelin through his heart or something but what she saw when she followed the thud was much worse.

"Hi." Tim grinned as he panted out of breath. An arm weakly slumped over his shoulder and the guy next to him, looked almost lifeless and covered in blood. Marcella was speechless, "Oh, he's not dead. Well, not yet anyway. I need you to heal him for me." Tim said, pointing to the man dressed in a uniform.

Her confused look got more intense and it took a while for her to speak, "What the – What? No."

Tim let the man slump to the ground, he wasn't dead, but Tim knew he didn't have long. "Look, that man was – is my grandfather. He died in World War I. I can stop that from happening. Please, Marcella." he pleaded.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" she shouted. Tim knew the rules of time travel; when he got the watch sent to him, it came with a little booklet, which he was told to destroy once he memorised it. One of the rules in that book told him to not bring anyone back, and to not change anything about the past. "You have to take him back."

Tim turned back sadly, looking at his young grandfather on the floor. He lowered his eyes and licked his lips before looking back up to Marcella, his eyes glistened as the tears gathered, "But -"

Marcella placed her hand on his cheek, luckily, her power only worked when she controlled it so it wouldn't do anything to Tim. "Look, I know that being able to do what you can makes you feel like you want to save people from the past; especially family. It's why you won't take me with you, right? But you can't, Tim. You know that." she reasoned, "If your grandfather died in that war, you have to let that happen. You have to take him back, Tim."

Tim looked back at his grandfather and sniffed as a tear fell from his eye. He walked back over to him and put the man's arm back around his shoulder and he took the weight of him. Adjusting the time and date on his watch again, he took his grandfather back to the First World War.


	21. Day Twenty - Surprise Gift

Tim sits at the kitchen table with his laptop in front of him. Marcella was out seeing both Emma and Edward and it gave him the perfect opportunity to plan a little weekend away for him and Marcella. With them both having an upcoming weekend off, Tim didn't see a better time on the horizon and wanted to surprise her. Since getting together, they barely spent any time alone; there was always work or one of them had to go off for whatever reason.

Marcella came home and entered the kitchen and Tim quickly slammed the laptop lid shut. He didn't even know she had returned and he suddenly realised how suspicious he may have seemed. "I was just, er, reading some emails from Maya about charity things." he told her.

Looking at her face, Tim knew she wasn't quite so convinced and he probably had two options; keep up the lie and risk a probable argument or tell her the truth. "You don't have to hide them from me." she informed him, taking a bottle of water from her fridge.

"I'm not hiding anything."

"Really? That laptop lid took a bit of a battering when I entered the room." she replied. Tim could feel that this was going to escalate pretty quickly, so he knew that he didn't have a choice but to show her what he was really doing.

"If you don't believe me, come and take a look." he offered, stepping back from the laptop. Marcella walked over and sat in his chair and opened the lid, "It was supposed to be a surprise."

Marcella sighed and lowered her head, "A weekend away?" she said before looking back up at Tim who's back is leant on the wall and his arms are crossed, "I'm sorry, Tim." she apologised.

"Don't worry about it." he replied uncrossing his arms and shuffling his feet. He was slightly disappointed that she thought that he'd be up to anything; he'd never do anything like what she thought to her.

Getting up off the chair, she goes over to him and wraps her arms up around his neck and his hands sit firmly on the small of her back. "Why?" she asked and Tim cocked his head and frowned a little in confusion. "Why a weekend away?" she wondered.

"I wanted to take you away from here for a few days. Away from everyone else in your life. I thought you deserved it." Marcella smiled shyly at Tim's explanation. It had been a very long time since anyone had thought of her enough to want to do such a thing. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. The kiss soon broke and she smiled at him. Her smile was something that was rare, and Tim adored it whenever he was able to bring it out of her.


	22. Day Twenty-One - Dispute

"Why have you arrested him again?" Tim fumed as he joined Marcella in the observation room. She looks through the glass side of the one-way mirror at Vince Whitman sat at the table with his solicitor, Yanis and Rav sat opposite interviewing him with LeAnn. "I told you that we'd only bring him back in if we had evidence."

Marcella didn't reply and she hadn't spoken to him since last night. Tim knew that she was only doing this to piss him off after their fight about Maya but this was a murder investigation that she was only hindering by arresting Vince further with no legitimate reasons.

"Marcella?" his raised voice exclaimed. Her refusal to even explain herself irritated him, and he sometimes just wanted to grab her arm and pull her out of the room. Tim sighed and placed his hands in his pockets, "If you're doing this because you're angry at me then you're potentially perverting the course of justice by arresting somebody we know didn't do it."

"How do you know he didn't do it?" she asked, "Or are you being like this because you don't want us investigating your bit on the side's husband?" Marcella's voice raised louder with every question she asked and Tim hated it. He always tried so hard to not shout, especially to her.

"Rav told me you think it's a woman." he reminded her, his voice stayed low and calm as opposed to Marcella's.

Tim perched on the end of the table in the observation room and tried to get close to her by reaching out to her hand, but she moved away from him. It hurt that she felt like wanting to step away when only a few days ago, all they both wanted was to be close to one another.

"If I was doing what you think I was doing with Maya, don't think I'd be doing everything I could to keep her husband out of the picture?" she knew he had a point but none of this made sense to her, and without him not explaining properly, she was confused. Tim understood that after everything she went through with Jason she would be worried and suspicious but he couldn't tell her the truth, at least not yet.

Since last night, he had been so annoyed that Marcella just allowed him to walk out, and it was something that he really didn't want to do and he began to wish he started to fight for her a bit more. But maybe it was too late.


	23. Day Twenty-Two - Angst

_A/N: This is inspired by the first scene of the second series when Marcella is on the roof. I'm positive it's Rav in the scene but I'm changing that._

Tim followed Marcella when he saw her make her way to the stairs that went up to the roof. He hoped that she was just getting some fresh air, but he needed to make sure she wasn't doing anything stupid.

Her legs shake as she stands on the edge of the roof, she didn't want to jump, nor did she even know what she was doing. Everything about the last 12 days had been nothing short of horrific, she had found the killer, but that was a small piece of good that came out of a otherwise shitty time; Mark was dead, her kids want to move to close to 7000 miles away from her to Singapore, and she didn't even have Tim any more. She felt like she had nothing left.

Tim opens the door to the roof and sees Marcella close to the edge and he immediately panicked. "Marcella?" he says as calmly as he could while he quietly walks closer. Her head slowly turns, but not enough to see who is there. She looks over the dark sky of London and her body inches forward. Tim grabs her by her waist as tightly as possible, "What the hell are you doing?" he asks. Looking up at her, she looks down at him and suddenly her facial expression changes to shock.

Marcella realises she somehow entered a fugue, "I – I don't know. I..." she stutters. Tim lets go of her and holds out his hand and she eventually and reluctantly takes hold of it and gets down off the ledge. She stares for moment, looking at nothing before bursting into tears.

"Hey, hey, come here." he soothed, pulling her in for a hug. Marcella's arms stay clasp to her chest when Tim brings her in for the hug and they stay there even when he's pressed so close. "Why did you even...?" he begins to ask but he couldn't even finish the sentence. The thought that Marcella had even considered such a thing made everything about them not being together anymore much worse. He hated that she felt such a way and he couldn't look after her and at least try and make it a little better.

"Everything. The case, Mark, the kids, Jason, you..." she trailed off.

Tim broke off the hug and frowned, "Me?"

"Yeah, you." she confirmed. "I don't even have you any more." she sobbed. Tim looked down sadly; that wasn't totally his fault. But he felt the same, all he wanted was to have her back. This was such a mess for both of them.


	24. Day Twenty-Three - Rescue

Marcella was out looking at a lead on her own when CCTV shows she was grabbed and out into the back of a van. It had been more than 12 hours and Rav was frantic, while they waited to find a lead on her whereabouts and LeAnn could tell he was pretty pissed too. Nothing irritated him more than Marcella doing things on her own without consulting someone in the team.

As much as Tim was trying to keep thinking like a policeman, Marcella is someone he cares about much more than one of his DS'. He wished there was more he could do but instead he just paced the team room while Mark checked all surrounding CCTV, "I got something!" he exclaimed and Rav, LeAnn and Tim crowded around his computer. "I managed to track where from the van was stolen and found close by CCTV and found a shot of one of the guy's face." he informs them, bringing up and image and revealing it to be one of their suspects.

"Any idea where they could've taken her, Mark?" Rav questions.

"He owns quite a few properties here and abroad. One of the properties her brought yesterday." Mark replied.

Rav quickly grabbed his jacket, "Right, I need that address and armed officers as back up." he ordered.

"I'm coming with you." Tim informed them. It wasn't that he didn't trust Rav and LeAnn with the other officers, but he wanted to make sure Marcella was okay straight away. It was frustrating and upsetting enough that she was somewhere, alone and in a bad situation so the least he felt he could do was at least be there when and if they found her.

The team arrived at the property their suspect brought only yesterday and the team could only assume it was for this purpose. Rav and Tim send the armed officers to quietly surround the building while they made their way towards the front door. "So how do you want to do this?" Rav asks his boss.

Tim didn't want to go in all guns blazing, at least not before trying to be calm about this. He knocked the door, telling the suspect to open up; there was no response. Trying once more with no luck, he told the armed officer to kick the door in and the swarmed the property. Tim, Rav and LeAnn rushed in, "Marcella?" Tim yelled as he ran down some stairs a door that lead to a basement, "Marcella?!" he shouted through the door. Upstairs, officers shouted that each room was clear as the walked around the property, and he thought that this was the only other place he could be. He stood back and kicked the door open and Marcella was sat in the middle of the near empty basement tied to a chair and her mouth taped up.

He rushed over to her and crouched down in front of her before called out that he had found her. Untying her, he ran his hands over parts of her face, making sure she was okay. "Tim?" she checked as soon as he carefully removed the tape over her mouth.

"You okay?" Tim placed his hand on her cheek and gently caressed his thumb over it, wiping away a tear that had made it's way down her skin.

Marcella didn't reply, she just flinged her arms around him and her grip was tight; tighter than he had ever been hugged by anybody before. Rav and LeAnn rushed through and he gave a little look that let them know that she was safe and they left them alone for a moment. Tim squeezed her even tighter and he felt relieved that he had her back in his arms; but knowing that she had been kept in this room upset him, knowing that he never stopped it from happening, when he felt he could.

Scared wasn't a feeling that Marcella allowed herself to show in front of many people, but she couldn't hide it this time and she felt comfortable enough to let Tim see that side of her. As they continued to hug, she breathed in his scent; though they were only apart for a little while, it felt like ages since she was able to get so close to him. "Thank you." she whispered into his ear.

"It's okay, you're safe now." he replied and pressed his lips briefly to her cheek. "Come on, let's get you out of here."


	25. Day Twenty-Four - Tragedy

_A/N: This talks about a series 2 (episode 7) spoiler._

Tim had ordered everybody home for the night. Earlier that day, they lost a member of their team and emotions were running high. Marcella didn't feel like going home; if anything, she was more determined to work on the case. Not just for Mark, but for the same reason for wanting every case solved.

Marcella's relationship with Mark suffered a little towards the end and she started to feel guilty she didn't try and fix it. But Mark was spying on her through her webcam so she had every right to be a little pissed off. She sits at her desk and looks at a framed picture of Mark. Everything about what had happened was devastating to her. Mark was a good guy, and despite their differences, nobody deserves to die the way he did.

It was dark in the team room and Tim was on his way home. He saw a figure sat at a desk and walked closer, realising it's Marcella he walked a little faster and placed his hand on her shoulder when he reached her. "Hey. Why are you still here?" he asked. Marcella turned and looked at him, tears streaming down her face. Tim hated seeing her upset and he hated that this was something he couldn't fix. He moved a nearby chair closer to her and looked at her, "None of this is your fault." he reassured her.

"If I had stayed -"

"No, no, no, don't say that." he said. He new Marcella would blame herself, she always did and it was heartbreaking for him. "You weren't to know, Marcella. Nobody was." he reassured her. Tim knew how hard it was to lose a member of the team, but he also knew this was no one's fault, least of all hers. If she had stayed, it would be her dead too and as much as losing Mark was hard for him, losing Marcella would be too much for even him to deal with.

She sat quietly for a moment before looking back at the photo of Mark and breaking down. Tim got out of his chair and leaned down to hug her tightly. He knew she blamed herself, but he also knew that nobody was to know it was going to happen so he wished he could take all of the responsibilty she felt for his death away.

Breaking off the hug, Tim looked into her eyes and held her chin lovingly between his thumb and forefinger, "Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.

She rubbed the tears of her cheek and nodded, "Yeah." she replied. Tim placed another kiss to her cheek and began to walk off, "Could you, I don't know, stay?"

Tim smiled and walked back towards her and sat down again. "Of course I'll stay." he hummed before leaning forward again and kissing her.


	26. Day Twenty-Five - Support

Marcella still hadn't gotten to the bottom of her fugues and the most recent one troubled her when she accidentally attacked Tim, mistaking him for Jason. Tim had never seen her have one before, and it was horrible, it wasn't that she hit him for no reason, he understood that, eventually. But it was just something he never wanted to see her go through again. He doesn't remember what triggered it, but now it's happening much more often and even at the slightest things and she couldn't control them any more. Tim stayed the night after spending half of it awake with her after her fugue, he wasn't prepared to leave her.

She had booked herself in for another hypnosis session and Tim wanted to come along. Marcella was wary about him coming; it was a part of her that she had kept away from him and it was strange for it to be out in the open. More and more people in her life was beginning to find out and she knew she had to fix it.

Sat in the room, Tim sits on an arm chair next to hers and Marcella looks at Tim and he gives her an encouraging smile. "I can wait outside if you prefer to do this alone." he tells her.

Marcella shook her head and grabbed his hand, "You said you keep getting incidents. But you don't know what's triggering them?" the therapist asked. Marcella shook her head again and the therapist turned to Tim, "Were you there? Did you see anything that might've triggered it?"

Tim had no idea, there was nothing that he felt could've sent her into one, though he didn't know much about them and he didn't know what made her have them in the first place, and neither did she.

Marcella curled up in the armchair and closed her eyes and tried her hardest to relax, "Three, two, one." the therapist counted down and Marcella was sent back to her last fugue. As soon as it started, her head kept jerking side to side, and her body kept shaking; like a dog having a bad dream. Her shivering became more intense and she began whimpering.

"Jason?!" she suddenly said as she quickly opened her eyes and sat back upright.

Tim frowned, "Jason?" he wondered. "Jason didn't come over." he assured her.

"I know." her voice cracked, "But he called. He keeps messing with my head since I told him about my blackouts. He knows how to trigger them and he does it on purpose." she admitted. Marcella never wanted to tell Tim, it was something she wanted to deal with herself, but Jason's phone call yesterday is what triggered her most recent one.

It annoyed him that Jason was messing with her like this, as if he hadn't done enough damage. "What? How?"

"He knows that I don't want him to take Emma and Edward to Singapore. They're my kids too, I can't let him take them away." her voice broke. "He calls me a disease, and said the kids hate me. He calls me just to remind me of that. He keeps sending me into a fugue, that's why it's happening so much." she sobbed.

Tim got of of his chair and crouched in front of her, placing his hand on her cheek he looked directly into her eyes, "Hey, hey, listen to me, okay." he said softly, "He's not going to take your kids away from you. I won't let that happen, I promise. Alright?" Tim gave her a little smile as his thumb brushed over her cheek, she smiled back but she knew that it wasn't guaranteed; Jason wants to go and the kids wanted to go, but she couldn't bear knowing that she would probably never see them again.

Marcella had to admit the sessions were beneficial to her and she felt a little better knowing that Tim could join her if she needed him again. It was relieving to be able to tell someone she could fully trust with the information about her fugues and Tim promised her wouldn't tell the police and threaten her career and she believed him.


	27. Day Twenty-Six - Finishing Each

Tim and Marcella returned from interviewing a witness. Alex was back from sick leave, Tim had been demoted down to a DS following his embezzlement accusations, Marcella and Rav had gained their promotions to DI and DCI and Tim and Marcella were back together.

"What have you got?" DCI Sangha asked to the two detectives as they reached the evidence board.

"The woman next door to where the murder took place cl-"

"Claims to have not seen or heard anything prior to or the murder itself." Tim interrupted her and she took a photo from the printer that she had printed just before she reached the board.

She places it on and turns back to the team, "This van was spotted nearby several times b-"

"But no lead on who owns it yet." he butted in once more. Alex and Rav looked at each other and tried to keep a straight face, they weren't even sure if this was them being just policeman who are sharing the credit for their work or their just being ridiculously cliché with their relationship.

"Do you two realise you're doing that?" Alex questioned, followed by a stifled laugh from Rav. Tim and Marcella looked a little confused, they didn't even realise they were finishing each other's sentences, let alone doing so in such a cliché way.

Rav's hand sit on his hips and he takes a moment to think, "Right, well scour the CCTV, see if you can find a lead on this van. Quickly." he orders. Tim was always a little disappointed to see Rav taking over his job, but every cloud when he gets to spend even more time with Marcella, and though they didn't get to spend much time alone, he got to see more of how her brain worked; and that's what made him fall for her in the first place.


	28. Day Twenty-Seven - Memories

Marcella's head was against Tim's chest as they lie close together in the bed. His arm was around her back and hooked on her upper arm, and her arms drapes lightly around his waist. They had a lot of moments like this where they just cuddled and didn't speak, but even for Marcella, it was unusually quiet. "Are you okay?" he asked her softly.

Her eyes lifted up and she looked at him, "Yeah." she replied, her voice was hushed, almost a whisper and she returned her head back to it's position. "Just thinking. About us."

Tim frowned, "Uh-oh. Is this the speech, Marcella?"

Marcella chuckled lightly, "No. Just after everything that happened with Jason, I didn't think I'd feel like this again." She sat up in the bed and Tim breaks into a smile. "I know we've had our problems already..." she pauses as Tim looks away, his head lowered towards the duvet that covers him. "But, at least we know how to sort through it. Me and you – well, it's been a long time coming, and despite what we've been through. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather be with." she smiles.

Looking at Tim, she could sense the confusion on his face at this sudden pouring of the heart to him, but she meant every word. She's not felt like this for a long time, since before Juliet died, that was when she was last truly happy with someone.

Tim tries to hide the smile that comes to his face, but fails. "Where's all this come from?"

She shakes her head, and shrugs, "I don't know." she said, but the truth is, she did know. "My own kids hate me. My ex-husband hates me. But you – you've stuck around, despite me treating you like shit at times. I don't deserve you, but I care about you, Tim."

Tim was taken aback by the confession, but he's been waiting a long time to hear it, "I've always cared about you, you know that."

"I know." she smiled. They took a moment, just looking into each others eyes, captivated by each others presence and the love that had grew towards them. Marcella brought her head closer to his and they kissed. Their noses rubbed together and the foreheads touched as Tim's hand made it's way up her arm and through to her hair and began twisting the strands around his fingers as they kissed again.


	29. Day Twenty-Eight - The Power of Two

Marcella had gone through countless hypnotherapy sessions with Tim by her side. Every single one, a fugue soon followed whenever she found herself in a stressful situation; she couldn't control them, no matter how hard she had tried.

He had tried everything to get her to learn to control them, whenever he was around, he attempted to snap her out of it as quickly as he could, but it never happened and the fugue would just continue. It was awful to witness her have fugue after fugue and not be able to help her without getting fists thrown in his direction.

Marcella had spent the last few minutes on the phone to Jason. Tim didn't want to get involved and all he could make out was them discussing Emma, something about her not returning home from school. She slammed the phone down and Tim slowly walked into the kitchen, "Is everything okay?" he asked, placing his hand on her arm.

"Emma's not returned home from school and it's getting dark." she informed him. "Jason wanted to know if she had come here." It hadn't been long since they found Leo's body and her mind immediately went to thinking the worse case scenario; that the killer had her. She slowly felt her body starting to sway, her mind swimming with thoughts whilst also feeling slightly light headed. For once, she wanted to stop it, or at least lessen it before it got worse.

Tim could sense that she wasn't quite with it and moved in front of her, "Marcella!" he called, trying to make her take control. She started to whimper, panicking as she fought to return back to the real world. "Marcella. I need you to listen to me." he ordered her. He wasn't being gentle with this, he needed to be tough on her. She could hear him, though to her, his voice felt faint, like they were miles apart in an dark forest.

The tears streamed down her face as she fought to not think all she was thinking about where Emma was. Somewhere in her brain, she knew that Emma was probably at a friends and just never told Jason, she needed to find that thought and push it to the forefront of her mind. "Come on, come on, come on." she whispered to herself.

"Whatever you're thinking, whatever's happening in your brain, you need to take control." Tim reluctantly placed his hands on her cheek, hoping she didn't try to attack him, and she didn't. Her hands grasped hold of his upper arms and her eyes fixated on him and he could tell she was slowly bringing her self out of the fugue.

A fugue that involved no violence, no shouting and no running off.

Marcella's breathing slowed and she soon returned back to herself. Looking at Tim, she saw that familiar smile on his face, "See. You _can_ do it, Marcella."

"I didn't hit you?"

He shook his head and smiled once more, "Not a scratch. You managed to cope with it much better than you have done. No shouting, no wondering off and no flying fists or objects." he smiled. It wasn't much of an accomplishment, but it was something, something she can build on. Marcella knew that nobody else would've had the affect on her that having Tim help her out of it did. She took a few more minutes to compose herself and realise what she had achieved, "I'm so proud of you." he said, with one of his hands still clutching her cheek.

Marcella smiled to herself. Nobody had ever told her they were proud of her, ever. Tim's grin grew even wider as he leaned forward and pressed his lips passionately to hers. The kiss mutually ended and she placed her fingers upon his face and allowed her fingertips to slowly move across his skin, "I couldn't have done it without you." she whispered. Tim's hand moved towards her face again and he brushed some of her hair away and used his forefinger to remove some of her drying tears from her face.


	30. Day Twenty-Nine - I love yous

It wasn't unusual for Tim to make a little stop at Marcella's on the way home from work. They would always have a chat and a beer on the sofa, whilst they either talked about work, or Marcella's life.

Their relationship had been going from strength to strength since she returned back to the force and they began to feel much more comfortable about being a couple. Since sleeping together, Marcella realised who she wanted, and who wanted her; and it wasn't Jason, it was Tim.

"So, how are you this evening?" he asked, looking at her with great attention and care. He always asked how she was, every day, without fail and it always made her smile that somebody actually seemed to care how she was doing.

"I'm okay." she smiled. Usually she would just say that to just move the conversation on, but the truth is, she was okay, she was better than she had been over the last couple of weeks and that was mainly because of him. He gave her that feeling of love that she had lost with Jason, or at least that's what he said. She feels cared about with Tim, he waited for her; and when they eventually slept together, it was like the realisation had hit her, she wanted him, for good.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it." he replied. Marcella smiled and turned her head away. Tim loved that bright smile he saw, sometimes it was rare, but he loved it all the same and he could see that she was still a little shy around him, and that made him love her even more. He placed his beer bottle on the table and shuffled closer, putting his hand on her knee. She looked back up and smiled again, this time, not looking away and her grin just grew, as did his.

Taking her bottle of of her, he put it on the surface of the table. His face was close to hers and he pressed his lips to the soft skin of her cheek. Marcella wasn't satisfied with a simple cheek kiss and she wanted more so she moved her hand to his cheek and lightly moved his face so their lips are directly in front of each other's. They didn't kiss straight away, their foreheads just touched and Tim's hand pressed to her face and his fingers combed through her hair.

They felt each others calm breaths graze their lips and Tim kissed her once more, much more passionately than last time. She could feel the stubble on his face brush against hers as their faces were as close as they could possibly be and when they broke off the kiss again, they just stayed close. His hand gently lifted up her chin so he could look into her eyes, "I love you, Marcella."

"I love you too, Tim." she replied without hesitation, her voice was almost a whisper and she could feel her heart beating a little faster just as she said it. She had surprised even herself with that reply. But the truth is, she did love him and if Jason can fall in love with Grace whilst he was still married to her, than she can stop being so hung up on him since their break up and finally admit what she truly feels to the man in front of her.


	31. Day Thirty - Different Ways of Saying

Tim always wanted Marcella to know how much he cared about her and somehow he began to feel he was exhausting the use of the three little words. He sleepily walked down the stairs rubbing his eyes and made his way to the kitchen. Filling up the kettle he opened the fridge and retrieved the milk from inside, he wasn't paying much attention to anything but he did notice a post it note stuck to the fridge door. _"Good morning! Thank you for being mine. I love you. X"_ Tim smiled at the note that was scribbled in Marcella's handwriting.

He never expected her to express her love in such a way, she just never was the type of person to say how much she loves someone very often. He found the pack of post it notes and grabbed a pen, _"I hope you always know just how much you mean to me."_ he wrote, and separated it from the pack. Walking back up the stairs and going back to their bedroom, he attached the post it to the screen of her phone so she could see it when she woke up and he returned back downstairs.

Downing the last of his tea, he grabbed his car keys and got into his car. On the steering wheel there was another note, _"You're the one that makes me feel safe. Without you, I would be lost."_ his heart fluttered at all the notes he found. They had been seeing each other for more than a year now and he rarely even heard 'I Love You' so this was an happy surprise. And he loved responding in kind to them, by leaving some for her. As much as he loved telling her he loved her, he wanted other ways of being able to show it with more than just saying it, kisses and sex.

Tim smiled the whole way to work just by two little messages on a note. As he walked through the team room, he spotted Marcella's desk and the notepad on it. He took it as an opportunity to write something she could see to start off her work day when she arrived later, _"I wouldn't change a thing about you because I love you just the way you are. Have a good day, you know where I am if you need me."_ he scribbled before placing it under the computer keyboard with the end hanging out so she knew it was there.

He walked into his office and his phone alerted him to a text. Taking it out of his jacket pocket, the notification shows Marcella's name on the screen and the text that said, _"Always."_ He knew she was referring to his note, and it meant a lot to him to know that she knew just how much she meant to him. Tim was never leaving her and he loved her more than anything, he was going to make sure that she knew that everyday.


End file.
